Alien Nation: The Baltic Shadow

Alien Nation – Life on the Edge of Identity and Geopolitics Latvia, together with Estonia and Lithuania, forms the vulnerable eastern frontier of the European Union and NATO. In this region, tens of thousands live with the status of non-citizen: former Soviet citizens who did not automatically receive Latvian citizenship after 1991. Officially labeled as "Alien," this term aptly captures their sense of estrangement and uncertainty. In Daugavpils, Latvia’s second-largest city and the heart of the Russian minority, the daily lives of these non-citizens unfold against a backdrop of growing geopolitical tension. The war in Ukraine, Russian threats and hybrid attacks, and the persistent fear of destabilization make their situation more urgent than ever. The photographs in this series capture the quiet waiting, melancholy, and displaced existence of people living between two worlds—not fully Russian, but never entirely Latvian.